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Suspect Arrested In Attleboro Bank Robbery

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BOSTON (CBS) – A suspect has been arrested in the May 12 robbery of a Bank of America in Attleboro after police followed a trail of evidence that included canoes and a ski glove.

Lawrence J. Costello was scheduled to be arraigned Friday afternoon in federal court in Boston after being arrested on bank robbery charges Friday morning in Buzzards Bay, prosecutors said.

Back on May 12, two men entered the Bank of America on Pleasant Street carrying what appeared to be semi-automatic handguns, police said.

Video surveillance cameras captured one of the men jumping over the counter and taking $17,687 from a teller’s drawer, according to a criminal complaint filed in the case.

Witnesses saw the two men leave the bank and flee in a green pickup truck.

Later that afternoon a pickup truck matching the description of the robbers’ getaway vehicle was found less than 2 miles away in Norton.

Police said the truck had been reported stolen earlier in the day in Canton. According to the criminal complaint, investigators also found near the truck a pair of red ski gloves matching those worn by one of the bank robbers.

The truck stolen in Canton had a pair of canoes on its roof rack when it was taken. Police said a pair of canoes were found May 13 at the Walpole Mall.

A surveillance camera at the mall captured a green pickup truck entering the mall parking lot with canoes on it and leaving without them, police said. The pickup truck was followed in and out of the parking lot by a greenish/gray Chevrolet Impala.

Attleboro police circulated a flier showing the pickup and the Impala to area police. A few weeks later, Norwood police advised Attleboro police that a similar Impala was driven by Costello, who has past convictions for armed robbery, aggravated assault and drug charges.

A witness who saw the green pickup truck being driven away from where it was stolen in Canton the day of the robbery, identified a photo of Costello as the driver of the pickup that day, police said.

FBI testing also matched DNA from the gloves found on the street to Costello.

No further information was available on the second bank robber or other details in the case.